


It's About Time

by TheHeraldofAndraste



Series: AU - Dragon Age [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 02:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3272870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHeraldofAndraste/pseuds/TheHeraldofAndraste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite what people thought of him, Dorian never made a scene unless it seemed absolutely necessary, so naturally would not even bat at an eyelash at the Inquisitor's new addition to the quest. At least that would be the case if he didn't have to live with the constant reminder that such an esteemed gentleman such as Lavellan would choose to spend time with a brute over himself. Whenever he walked in through the door he would have to awkwardly shuffle over to his room, while the two of them cried themselves laughing whilst drinking beer and getting far too emotionally involved in soap operas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's About Time

Despite what people thought of him, Dorian never made a scene unless it seemed absolutely necessary , so naturally would not even bat at an eyelash at the Inquisitor's new addition to the quest. At least that would be the case if he didn't have to live with the constant reminder that such an esteemed gentleman such as Lavellan would choose to spend time with a brute over himself. Whenever he walked in through the door he would have to awkwardly shuffle over to his room, while the two of them cried themselves laughing whilst drinking beer and getting far too emotionally involved in soap operas. The two hadn't even known each other for a long time, it had only been a few months yet Dorian can't remember a time when he was able to speak to Mahanon without the qunari butting in with some crude comment. The worst thing of all, that they were a qunari. Dorian didn't see himself as a greatly judgmental person but being raised the way he was, he for some reason as he thought he owed it to Tevinter to hate this man. Yes the man was brash and many of things he said were uncalled for, but he made Mahanon smile and only that mattered. Yet the thoughts raced into his head whenever the Qun was mentioned, and he would fight with this poisonous opinion, feeling ashamed for the rest of the day. During the months the qunari and Mahanon had been close, Dorian had developed a routine: put his headphones on full volume, offer a quiet hello, shuffle past the two of them awkwardly, lock his bedroom door and wait for him to leave. Today was different though, in his rush he left his phone at home completely which meant no distraction or reason to not engage with either of them.

"I'm home." Dorian said, as he always did, throwing his keys down onto the table.

He didn't even need to look up, he didn't need to guess what would be happening when he got home: The Bull - Dorian could never understand why Mahanon would spend time with a man who didn't even have a real name - would be shirtless and putting his ridiculous muscles to use by slapping Lavellan on the back every time a character made an attempt at a joke.

"How did you get on?" Mahanon asked, his eyes not moving from the television.

"Oh just dreadful, it's a good thing I can come back to _our_ flat to spend some time with _my_ roommate." Dorian was being childish, but he was past the point of being clever.

"Well sit and watch this with us. I think you'd like it." At that moment Mahanon finally looked at him, with his bulging green eyes and stupid smile.

Dorian walked in the kitchen and put on the kettle, pulling out two mugs and avoiding eye contact with the qunari at all costs, yet he didn't even seem to even acknowledge that Dorian had come home. The two of them sat there chatting about whatever soap opera they obsessed over now.

"What is it?" Dorian asked bringing in the two mugs back into the lounge and setting them on the table.

Before Mahanon even got out a breath, Bull seized Dorian's mug from the table and a huge grin spread on his face.

"Thanks Vint, didn't expect you to make me tea." He gulped it down whilst glaring Dorian straight in the eye.

Never mind, Dorian thought he may have some wine instead even at only 4 in the afternoon. Lavellan didn't even seem to notice the tension between the two even though it was so prominent Dorian was surprised he wasn't suffocating in it. Dorian did what he did best; he sulked. A huff left Dorian's lungs and he crossed his arms tightly across his chest as he collapsed down onto the sofa.

"It's a soap about interracial relationships." Mahanon began "It sounds dumb, but there's a couple on it and one's a qunari and the other's from Tevinter. Isn't that weird?"

Dorian tensed slightly "Not so much weird, verging more on the impossible side." He scoffed, trying to appear as calm and collected as possible.

"What's the matter? Worried you might break a nail with anybody stronger than the skirt wearers you call warriors?" Bull bellowed, his gruff voice standing up the hair's on the back of Dorian's neck.

Mahanon lightly nudged Bull but still said nothing, the grin on the Bull's face still as prominent. The over dramatic and hardly believable acting on the show wasn't occupying Dorian's mind no matter how hard he tried to focus, instead he shuddered every time the Bull's voice became low, thunderous. He'd had enough when he the Bull grunted another  laugh in Lavellan's ear, sending a shiver down his spine which he covered up by springing from the sofa. As smoothly as possible, he straightened his jacket and began to walk back to his room. A familiar noise perked up Dorian's ears, Mahanon's phone went off, the text alert he only used when it was from either Josephine, Cullen or Leliana.

"What is it?" Dorian asked instantly, already preparing to leave.

"Nothing big." Lavellan put his phone back into his pocket "Josie needs me to sign some paperwork or something."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Dorian insisted, he could see the Bull observing him from the corner of his eye.

"No it's fine. Just keep Bull company will you?" The words slowly fell to a whisper as Mahanon realised how bad of an idea that was.

"I can leave, it's getting pretty late anyway." Bull looked down at his wrist despite the lack of watch there.

"Don't leave!" Mahanon held Bull's hand "I've got things planned for tonight, I won't be long I promise."

As soon as Mahanon walked out the front door, Dorian tucked himself away in his room and searched for his phone. He left his door open just a crack and peered over at what the Bull was doing, currently nothing of interest. The hunk of a man sat there with no shirt on, stretching his impossible arms above his head.

"That's a shame." The Bull began and Dorian pretend not to notice him.

He began to panic now, as his phone wasn't on his bedside table as it always was in the morning. Had Mahanon moved it? Maybe he put it in his bag to make sure it didn't get lost, or put it on the kitchen counter and Dorian didn't see. He knew he was being over dramatic, and he never really used his phone much but now that he didn't have it he lost his way. A grey bulk moved into the crack in the door, grinning that malicious grin a second time as he saw Dorian turning his normally immaculate room upside down to find his phone.

"Wow." Bull's voice seemed to get deeper each time Dorian heard it "You really do keep up the reputation don't you?"

"What?" Dorian asked, his head now under the bed in search of his phone. Maybe it fell down the side whilst he slept?

"Your hair, that moustache, this room. It screams 'fruit'." Bull took another step into Dorian's room and he overheard his closet door open. "These clothes don't help either."

Dorian pulled his head out from under his bed and quickly fixed his hair whilst Bull's back was still turned to him. It wasn't uncommon for people to comment on his moustache but Dorian put that down to simple jealousy, as he saw the rough patches of beard forming on the Bull's face he only assumed the qunari weren't suited to manipulate facial hair in such a way. People didn't often comment on his fashion, unless commenting meant complimenting immensely; a lot of Dorian's money went into his wardrobe, every so often Vivienne and himself would splash out on all sorts of things once every year to treat themselves. If he wasn't wearing suit jackets and skinny jeans, he wore colourful jumpers and tight trousers.

"What do you mean 'fruit'?" Dorian straightened his blazer as he stood up, joining Bull by his side and looking into his wardrobe.

"You know." Bull turned around to glare at Dorian and never had he felt so small "There's always those types that are just a little too in touch with it."

"Bull I wish I had the time and capacity to crack this code your spewing, but I really would like to sleep now." Dorian over announced his words in an attempt to intimidate Bull, though he didn't really think it would make a different.

That was the Bull's cue to leave, Dorian knew it, Bull knew it, yet nobody moved. Bull stood his ground grinning down at the much smaller man, even though Dorian prided himself as quite a tall man. Dorian's face began to flush as his eyes wandered over the lines defining the abundance of muscle threatening to burst out of Bull's skin and his mouth dried up as all the moisture in his body seemed to be escaping through the sweat on his forehead. Bull chuckled, a deep, rough chuckle which sent another shiver down Dorian's spine which he now disguised by walking over to his door.

"Really, I do need to sleep now." Dorian's voice wavered slightly but he didn't address it, he simply gestured towards the door and kept his eyes on anything but Bull.

"Manners too, next you'll be telling me you like to drink green tea and read poetry in your spare time." Bull now closer to Dorian now, even arching his back slightly to come down to his height.

"I would applaud you on your exquisite guessing skills, my friend, but I highly doubt you could spent so much time with Lavellan and not have him mention any of those things about me." Dorian put his hands on his waist now, meeting the Bull's glare.

Another bellowing laugh "Truly, my friend." Bull began, Dorian hated when people turned his own sour treatment back onto him "Your roommate rarely speaks of you, all he's mentioned is that you're a Vint, that you're a mage and that you're gay."

Dorian's brow furrowed yet didn't know why he was so shocked. It wasn't uncommon for people to talk about Dorian exclusively using those three details, they seemed to be far more important than Dorian's actual personality at the end of the day. He wasn't embarrassed by these things, he wore every part of his being on his chest with pride yet the words cut into him like a steel blade. It must have been the way he was saying it, or simply that it was qunari or specifically that it was the qunari that was claiming his best friend. 

"Honestly though." The Bull persisted "He didn't need to tell me that last one, it's so obvious I only need to look at you to know." Bull arched his back even further, coming down to Dorian's ear to gruff his voice up even more.

"Leave." Was all Dorian said, attempting to match the grumble of the Bull's voice but he knew it only made him sound like he had a sore throat.

Bull's back straightened but all the intimidation shattered from his posture, he stood relaxed with a head hanging low and his hands flying up defensively. Heat surged through Dorian's blood, lightning crackling at his fingertips, and he began to wonder why Lavellan surrounded himself with such a narrow minded bigot. He should have known his type, with massive muscles, drinking beer and making comments about any passing woman. Yes his sexuality didn't need to be explained to many people, he had no shame on the matter, but how Bull spoke about it that made Dorian think he hadn't earned knowing.

"Hey, I didn't say there's anything wrong with it." Bull claimed "I don't see two of your types sticking together that much, that's all."

"What do you mean?" Dorian's eyes fixed on the ground, his hands clenched against his sides.

"I'm not going to act stupid, I've been around his place long enough to see how you look at him. I know our people don't have the best history, but you wouldn't hate me so much unless you loved him."

"I do not love him!" Dorian burst out, his fingernails now digging into his palms "Is it so wrong to care about who my closest friend is spending his time with? I worry about him, it's my job to care when he's allowed to relax."

"Come on, Vint, it's nothing personal. I just didn't think he'd be your sort of type." Bull sat down on Dorian's bed, looking around at his room.

Dorian realised that he didn't appear as big as he originally did, seeming to take up all of the sofa space and leaving no room in the apartment for him to even move. The word 'Vint' didn't cut as deep as it first had, and though the qunari hadn't yet referred to Dorian as his actual name the word was softer, more of a nickname a close friend would give you. A heavy sigh pushed through Dorian's lips as his shoulders slunk along with his pride and he joined the Bull on his bed.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Dorian asked again "You know, if you weren't so vague with every point you made our conversations would be considerably shorter."

"I figured somebody like you wouldn't go for somebody like him." Bull explained.

"And who exactly would I 'go for'?" Dorian felt a smile aching to spread his lips.

Bull moved closer then, his breath reeked of beer but Dorian had no doubt that he wasn't drunk. Sure a couple of cans of beer could floor Dorian in minutes but being built like that meant managing to drink for a day straight and he'd only be wobbling when he walked.

"They say opposites attract." Bull breathed "You're a small guy, pretty lean who clearly cares for his appearance. You need a strong guy, somebody to pin you down."

That same blood that boiled in his blood not long ago ran up to his cheeks so fast Dorian's vision blurred, almost a sign for him not to say anything as his mouth dried up as soon as he even though about trying. A tightness in his jeans ached as he imagined how his horns felt against his fingertips.

"That's ridiculous." Dorian spluttered, he slid his hand into his pocket to reach for his phone, to reach for a distraction but there was nothing there.

"Oh is it?" He spoke in a strange tone, not sweet but it shot right through Dorian "You act as if I haven't noticed your wandering eye. You've thought about it, haven't you?"

"As if I'd ever go for a qunari, nothing but beer drinking barbarians if you ask any Tevinter." Dorian turned his back to Bull.

Not looking at him made it even worse, he still pick uped Bull's heavy breathing and the creaking of the bed underneath his weight. 

"But you aren't any Tevinter. You fled your home and Mahanon tells me you plan to return to put a stop to the injustice there. You're the opposite, you want revenge on your homeland in any way possible and what better way to say 'fuck you' to the Imperium than to fuck the same people they've raised you to hate."

"You're funny, I must say." Dorian turned around, having composed his facial expression, though his heart still pumped furiously.

"Who says I'm joking, Dorian?" Bull asked, getting up from the bed and took only a few steps forward to be right in front of Dorian's face.

The first time Bull had spoken his name, and it tightened his chest so he tight he was afraid it might burst. Why on Earth did he care so much about this man? Wasn't it just hours ago that Dorian plotted the many ways that he could remove this beast from his flat? Dorian looked up at his face, at the scars that ran across his chest and his arms. His heart began to slow, his eyebrows lowering on his face and a pain in his chest, how much damage had this man been through? It seemed to be instinct, his fingers going up to the Bull's face and rubbing his thumb against a scar on his cheek. 

"What happened to your eye?" Dorian murmured, admiring the fine detail of his eye patch.

"Is that the best pick up line you've got?" Bull chuckled in the lightest way Dorian imagined he could manage.

Dorian slapped him lightly, even if he put all of his strength into that slap he imagined Bull wouldn't notice it, and sat back down onto the bed. Bull had to be careful when climbing back onto Dorian's bed, as if he turned his head in the slightest his horns would scratch the wall.

"If you honestly think that I would fuck you simply because you suggested it, without having a conversation with you that wasn't bitter in the slightest, then you don't know me very well." Dorian crossed his legs over each other, listening intently to what Bull had to say.

Bull let out a huff, his chest collapsing and crossing his legs to match Dorian's pose; feeling the bed dipping beneath them but it wouldn't be first time it had broken. With great care, Bull lifted his eye patch - it was nothing but pure bloodstone and was carved with patterns Dorian could only assume were qunari - and revealed the wound behind it. It must have been a long time ago, Dorian concluded, as it simply looked like all of his other scars. But why did he cover it up? He walked around their flat shirtless most of the time, baring all of his scars without any sense of humiliation or shame.

"It happened years back." Bull began "I was at a pub, I can't even remember where. Not too long into the night, I was barely tipsy, I saw a group of men harassing a younger boy. It happens a lot, but this time it seemed a little different. Before I know it they start beating on the boy and he's trying to fight back but there's just too many of them, so I get up and try to pull them off of him. Being heroic can get to my head sometimes, I didn't even see the bastard on the bar smashing his bottle and the next thing I know it's jammed straight into my eye."

"Why did you help him?" Dorian rested his head on his hands.

"Seemed the right thing to do I suppose, part of me thought maybe the boy had done something to deserve it." Bull put his eye patch back into place "I'm not as brutal as I look."

"So what did he do?" Dorian asked "The boy."

"Nothing." Bull abruptly responded "Some pieces of shit starting beating on him because of his lifestyle." He paused then, looking Dorian sternly in the eye "He's Aqun-Athlok _._ " The qunari words rolled off of his tongue elegantly, if Bull could be elegant "It means he doesn't live as the gender he was given at birth."

Dorian opened his mouth to speak again but didn't really know what to say. Living such a lifestyle was far from unheard of to him but he didn't really expect transgender oppression and this brute to mix anytime soon; he certainly didn't expect their to be words for it in qunari. Bull's gaze hadn't softened and he still stared at Dorian as if waited for him to explode in anger or disgust or something just as terrible. If growing up in a society which damned everything you were taught you anything, it was that nobody should be shunned for things they cannot change. That same warmth returned to Dorian's chest then and he pushed himself up from his knees and tackled Bull, but he remained as still as a boulder, crashing his lips onto the qunari's. That was something Dorian hadn't expected to do today, or any day in his life, but it seemed like doing anything else was impossible. He wished he could say that kissing Bull didn't feel like he imagined but it was just as he expected, and he imagined it a little more than he cared to admit. His lips were chapped, a little rough but not harsh in the way he moved them, and his scruffs of beard tickled Dorian's chin just in the right places. The kiss couldn't last for too long, Dorian decided, and he pulled away before Bull could accumulate his thoughts for long enough to let his hands roam. When he pulled away Bull let out a breathy sigh, so quiet that Dorian wouldn't be able to hear it if he wasn't inches away from his face. The ache for another kiss ate away at his chest, at his mind, at his lips but he knew once he began he wouldn't be able to stop himself. A click of the door echoed throughout the silent flat as a grin spread across Dorian's face, and Bull reached deep into his pockets. The familiar cold metal of his phone chilled his hands, and when he opened his mouth to question he already walked out of the door and closing it behind him. Dorian clicked on his screen and saw that a new contact had been made, nothing but a phone number and an unusual name:

'It's About Time'.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the "I keep walking in on you making out with my roommate and I’m uncomfortably into both of you" au


End file.
